Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Sequel To Start Production In May

Remember that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel that you never asked for and probably never heard of before I mentioned it at the beginning of this sentence? Well, it's going into production in May.

Deadline has learned that The Weinstein Company has been quietly developing a follow-up to Ang Lee's Oscar-winning wuxia film and are now just a few months away from starting to roll cameras. John Fusco, whose previous titles include Hidalgo and The Forbidden Kingdom, has written the script while Bride of Chucky/Freddy vs. Jason director Ronny Yu is in talks to helm the picture. Ang Lee is not involved, though the writer is confident that they will be bringing back renowned fight choreographer Wo Ping Yuen.

The story is said to be based on the same Crane-Iron Pentalogy by Wang Du Lu from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was born, only they will be skipping around the numbers a little bit. The new movie will be based on the story Silver Vase, Iron Knight, which is the fifth and final book in the series. Fusco told the site, "This was an opportunity to explore a lifelong passion I’ve had for Wu Sia [sic], and if there wasn’t continuing source material, I would never have gotten involved."

As for the cast, the report says that while the film's plot revolves around Yu Shu Lien, the character played by Michelle Yeoh in the first movie, the original actors are not guaranteed to return. However, the door is open and the site says, "some likely will."

There is no release date at this time, but should production start in May you can probably expect the film to be released sometime in 2014.